Infinity (Valkyries: Soaring Raven)

by Sedona Venez

  I looked at my dazed eyes in the mirror. “Pull it the fuck together. The nervous breakdown will have to happen after the concert tonight.”

  Stepping away from the feather, I pulled my hair out of a ponytail and ran my shaky fingers through it. I moisturized my face and dabbed lip-gloss on my lips. Not once did I acknowledge the feather lying there, taunting me with the fact that my dreams were all real.

  My body trembled all the way to my closet, as I hastily pulled on an all-black ensemble: a skirt with a generous slash up the left leg, that would expose my thigh when walking, a t-shirt fabric cutout all along the shoulder and chest area in a punk crochet style, providing a cheeky exposé of my bra and my favorite stilettos.

  “You can do this, Infinity. One foot in front of the other—and focus.”

  I wanted to laugh at how ridiculous this whole scenario was, but I knew that if I dwelled on what that feather implied, I was doomed to be a basket case tonight and that would never do. My concert would go on, my fans would get a show, and I would smile, sing, and dance my ass off, acting like I didn’t have a fucking care in the world. Than when the hype and high of the concert resided, I would crawl into a corner, cry like a baby and maybe even pop some Rejuvenators.

  “Smile.”

  I grabbed my sunglasses, hobo bag and pasted a smile on my face, strutting with my best diva walk into the sunken living room, picking up my tablet and tossing it into my hobo.

  Anya and Mason looked at me solemnly, and my smile drooped. Please no more problems. I was barely hanging on.

  “What?”

  Anya’s eyes narrowed. “Is everything all right? Your aura is warped a little around the edges.”

  “I’m ready to rock,” I moved to the granite countertop that delineated the kitchen from the living room taking in the half-full bottle of scotch. “Ah, the dinner of champions, Scotch. It’s a little early even for you two to be drinking, so, what’s wrong?”

  They just stared at me silently.

  I arched a brow, “No, really, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” Mason growled.

  I look at them suspiciously. “Yeah, right…once again the secret circle of three gives me their standard response, ‘nothing’.”

  “That paranoia is going to make you crazy, girlie,” Anya responded as she walked over to the herbs that hung from the kitchen ceiling to dry: lilac, sage, fennel, lemon balm, mint, rose and other herbs. Grabbing a huge clear glass mug, I added a pinch of mint leaves for blessings and prosperity and fennel to dispel negative energy before bustling over to the stainless steel range, and pouring hot water into the mug. “You’re always moody before you perform. Just sit down, drink your tea and be quiet.”

  Mason poured a glass of scotch and tossed it back. Grimacing, he slammed the glass on the granite countertop.

  With narrowed eyes, I dropped a lemon wedge, spooning honey into the cup. “Interesting.”

  He looked at me blankly. “So you’re heading over to the music arena for sound check?”

  “No, I’m going over to the spa first. I need to talk to Mom.” I mumbled in between sips. “Really bad,” I said under my breath.

  “Another brilliant plan gone straight down the toilet,” Anya said before tossing back a shot.

  Looking at her quickly, “What the hell does that mean?”

  Anya waved her hand, “Bad vibes…they’re circling. I knew that I should have made the White Sage Smudge Sticks. Cleansing and purifying the unwanted spirits and negative energy. Shit, it’s too damn late now.”

  Mason leveled me with one of his icy stares. “Don’t you mean head over to the music arena to prepare?”

  Giving him an irritated scowl, I responded, “Did you just not hear what I said? I. Have. To. Talk. To Mom.”

  “No, you have to get your ass to the arena.”

  I slammed my mug on the counter, before asking, “What’s wrong with you? Are you on Rejuvenators?”

  “What’s wrong with you? This concert is stressful enough. Just get your ass over to the music arena and get this crap over with.”

  Glaring at him, “Okay, that’s it. You either tell me what’s wrong or don’t bother showing up tonight.”

  He snorted loudly, “You don’t have the balls to stop me, and that goes for your fake security crew, dancer one and dancer two.”

  “Don’t talk about Diego and Zoe like that.”

  “Enough!” Anya looked over at Mason. “You take her over to arena.”

  I sputtered, “I don’t…”

  Anya held-up her hands giving me a ‘don’t fuck with me look’ that shut me right up. “You watch your tone. Enough with the bratty behavior.”

  I tried to interrupt but she waved her hand. “Enough. We are all on edge and this sniping at each other is not helping. We’re worried, stressed, and fucking over all the hype over this concert.” She grabbed my face softly. “Let’s get it over with okay?”

  I nodded my head, “Okay.”

  She smiled, “Good. I’ll see you tonight after your performance yeah?”

  “Maybe,” I kissed her on the cheek and walked out of the kitchen.

  He looked over at Anya. “How did this get so screwed up? We had time, now it seems that all of our worst nightmares are colliding into one big cluster fuck.”

  She looked at him wearily, “It’s fate. The more we try to fight it, the more it sucks us into, as you say, one big cluster fuck.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Infinity

  Oh Hell Yes

  The car purred like a well-tuned machine as I sat pretending to be utterly fascinated with the dark gloomy scenery, hoping that Mason would take the hint and not say anything that would set me off on another tirade.

  “Look, Infinity, I...”

  As luck would have it, he pushed and now the painful talk would have to happen. “No. Let’s not okay?” Turning slowly, I held up my hand. “This whole thing between us is not working. We’re arguing constantly and it’s becoming painfully obvious that you view me as nothing but a possession. Your possession.”

  I clenched and unclenched my fists to ease the tension that came from finally coming to the breaking point. It was the cliff that I stood on so many times. But this time if I jumped, it would be severing ties with family. This had to be done, should have been done months ago. So I pushed on with a tightening of my heart and an uneasiness rolling around in my stomach.

  “Tomorrow I’ll start my search for new management because I can’t take.....this” I gestured between us, “This.....is tearing us apart.”

  He looked at me with steely eyes. “We had a deal!” Out of nowhere, he started banging the shit out of his steering wheel.

  Gritting my teeth, “The deal was that you would help me through the early stage of my career. We passed that, years ago. You never liked this business; you said the people made you sick to your stomach. Move on, concentrate on your clubs.”

  “That was not the terms of the deal.” His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel.

  “Those were exactly the terms.” He must have bumped his damn head. He knew those were the terms, verbally and contractually. “Are we talking about the same thing, because you’re practically foaming at the mouth?”

  His wild eyes were frankly scaring the shit out of me.

  “Do you really think that you can dismiss me like you’ve dismissed every other man in your life? This is bigger than me, bigger than you.”

  Okay, now I felt like I had to sooth him before he did something that we both would regret. So I smiled and used the voice reserved for crazed, fanatical fans that wanted me to sign their bare ass or hairy chest.

  “This is business, Mason. That’s all it is. You’ve got to move on and so do I. If you really love me like you say you do, you won’t make this hard on me or you.”

  He laughed, looking at me with more distain and anger than I had ever seen. “I’m not going to make this easy. You want out? Then I’m going to make you work for i
t. I’ve put in way too much time to step aside and let someone else reap the rewards.”

  Exactly what I was afraid of, this was going to be a brutal war. Game on, because if there was one thing I was not going to do it was let anyone trap me in a relationship that I wanted out of.

  “Understood. I think its best that we don’t talk right now because we’ll just do what we do best. Hurt each other.”

  “We’ll talk about this in the morning when you’re not so crazed.”

  Yeah right, like in the morning I would change my mind about getting rid of my once sane brother, now turned stalker crazy. I snorted before looking at the busy scenery, not feeling the least bit inclined to make small talk.

  I sighed, watching my ravens swoop over the car before disappearing.

  Mason’s car streaked through the streets at a sound-breaking speed, riding past a bronzed statue of spiraling smoke with the words ‘Fire and Ash. We will never forget.’ A memorial that marked the boundary into the bright metropolitan city filled with bright lights and well-dressed citizens. He floored it, the car punching through the streets, spraying dirty rain water behind it.

  “Tonight the security detail is going to be a little tighter with new security measures in place. So don’t start bitching about it.” He looked at me like he was expecting an argument.

  “Okay”

  He quirked his brow. “What? Did you hear me?”

  “Yes. New security measures. Got it.”

  He just stared, “This is a first. No arguing with me. This is a beautiful thing.”

  “I’m not stupid, Mason. I know there are people trying to kill me, and frankly, I want to live, so let’s roll, shall we?” I went back to concentrating on what I had to do tonight as we drove through the underground parking crowded with huge muscled men dressed in black combat pants, black t-shirts, combat boots and earpieces running a security sweep through the garage.

  “Well what do we have here? Security guy-candy.”

  He shot me an irritated glare.

  “What? It’s true.”

  I looked around thoroughly enjoying the hot man scene, when a sexy blend of lavender, amber and wood tickled my nose, enveloping my body deliciously.

  Jack-knifing in my seat, I looked around desperately like a drug addict looking for my next fix. “Do you smell that?” The scent made me want to attack the person wearing it.

  Mason looked at me with an expression on his face that I’ve never seen before, alarm, as I practically pressed my face against the window with ears perked at the rumble and roar of an approaching motorcycle.

  My eyes widened, my heart pumped with as much excitement as learning that my new designer shoes were being sent from my favorite designer. The motorcycle raced around the corner with engine thundering so loud it set off car alarms.

  I blinked, holding my breath with anticipation as the huge man sitting astride the humongous motorcycle made of shiny chrome cut its engine, with headlights centered on me like a searing spotlight. His helmet covered head snapped in my direction and stared.

  Oh, hell yes! Give me more.

  My eyes greedily took in the hardness of his thighs encased in dark jeans, his kick-ass motorcycle boots and leather jacket. I licked my bottom lip, stifling the crazy urge to leap out of the car, and climb him like a tree, while burying my nose into the crook of his neck like a possessed woman.

  My nose twitched again. I wasn’t even going to acknowledge the fact that yes I was scenting him, with an almost animal like obsession. I swallowed the hard lump that formed in my throat. I needed to see his face, and as if answering my request, he pulled off his helmet impatiently and literally, something clicked in my head as his warm apple-green eyes locked onto me and he muttered, “All mine.” Well, that’s what I imagined he was saying as his lips moved silently. He could have been whispering, “Stalker girl” but hey, I was willing to stalk him into submission.

  That’s exactly what I did, shamelessly stalking him with my eyes as he stepped from his bike, peeling off his leather jacket and tossing it across the seat, giving me front row seat to his wickedly buffed chest displayed at its finest in a tight black t-shirt.

  I was shamelessly panting when he prowled towards me with predator eyes that were so focused that I knew that I was the only thing that he cared about at that exact moment.

  This guy was dangerously gorgeous and freakishly tall. His short cinnamon colored hair had a sexy, ‘I rolled-out of bed’ look that made me want to run my fingers through it to muss it even more. His red well-trimmed goatee contrasted starkly against his lightly tanned skin.

  He opened my door, his sexy green eyes examined me with interest and then like sunshine breaking through the clouds, his lips curled up into a sexy as hell grin. He was sexy personified and the moment our hands touched, the energy was off the chain. Nervously, I pulled back, but he clutched my hand tightly, gently rubbing his thumb across my palm, pulling me to him, bumping me into his well-defined chest.

  My gawd, Big Red is a Viking. “Well, thank you,” I mumbled, shamelessly inhaling his mouth watering scent before allowing my gaze to roll up catching him looking down at me with a kickass smile. He was breathtakingly gorgeous. Basically, trouble with a penis.

  “My pleasure, sweetheart” He responded with a toe curling, gravelly southern drawl that made my eyes spontaneously rollback with pleasure. “My name’s Boulder. I’m heading up your security detail.”

  I stepped back reluctantly, clearing my throat. “Well, nice to meet you, Boulder.” My eyes slid from head-to-toe. “I’m happy to have you securing my body.”

  He winked, “Darlin’, I’m glad to be of service…anytime.”

  Mason cleared his throat loudly while looking at Boulder with blatant hostility “Boulder.”

  Boulder’s look was dismissive. “Mason” He nodded towards me, “She’s mine now.” His lips curled up into a sneer, “So you can back away and let the professionals handle the security and care of what is...theirs.”

  The security detail looked on with interest, as the air crackled with testosterone.

  “I am responsible for her, not you.” Mason sputtered.

  “Not anymore,” Boulder responded with steel eyes that made me step forward to cool the hostility brewing.

  I whispered loudly, “Mason’s a little cranky tonight, Let’s roll before he starts stamping his feet and crying like a baby, believe me, it’s not attractive.”

  Boulder put a guiding hand on my lower back, imprinting a comforting, searing heat that permeated through my shirt, and I absolutely loved it. Three men flanked my front, while another one held open the elevator as Boulder and I stepped in. I watched with interest as two men stood imposingly before Mason preventing him from following.

  Boulder looked at me coolly, “We’ll go up on our own.” The doors wisped shut and he began talking into his discreet earpiece. “We’re on the move. Clear the hallway and secure the dressing room.”

  He stood beside me, not touching, but real close. So close that I could feel the comforting heat emanating from his body.

  “I’m doing a mini rehearsal first.” I corrected.

  “Okay.”

  I felt his gaze assessing me not in the ‘I want your body’ way, but in the ‘I’m trying to figure you out’ way as I snuck a side view of his black tattoos that snaked up his well-defined arms contrasting with his tanned skin. My gaze lingered on the black ornate tattoos of wolves circling his neck.

  “I’ve never seen neck tattoos quite like that. What’s the symbolism?”

  He choked, looking at me in shock. “You can see my neck tattoos?”

  “Uh, yes! They’re right there.” I pointed to the exact location on his neck. “It’s hard to miss snarling wolves circling your neck.” I smirked, “What? Did the tattoo artist swear they were invisible? Because I can assure you that they are not.”

  He looked at me suspiciously. “So, you’re Kara’s daughter.”

  “Not biological. She adopted
me after the Fire and Ash war.” I arched a brow. “Why, are you interested in her?” Please say no.

  He boldly looked at me from head-to-toe with that toe curling smile that I could really get used to. “Nope, she’s not my type.”

  My lips froze somewhere between a smile and an O. Blonde, tall, shapely and beautiful, mom was everyone’s type, but I was deliriously happy that this time she wasn’t. Wanting to ruffle his feathers, I added. “Well, that would definitely be a first. Most guys are into my looking younger than a teen mother. Come on, she’s a blond hottie. I can give you the hook-up. She likes the young, muscular, but deadly type.”

  He deliberately bumped his leg against me. “Thanks for the compliment, I think. But she’s not my type.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite, what’s your type?”

  Our eyes locked, his apple-green eyes pinning me. “I like my women dark, curvy, gorgeous and a hell raiser in bed.”

  My lips curved into a smile. Oh, this is going to fun. “Hmm, you’re a man with excellent taste in women. It’s refreshing.”

  He quirked a lopsided smile that made my stomach clench in want. “And your type? It damn sure better include the muscular but deadly type.”

  I shrugged my shoulders, “Yup, what can I say, I’m a sucker for the deadly type. But let’s be clear, it’s the free security angle that I’m after.” I whispered behind my hand. “In case you haven’t heard, I’m the singer that can’t get anyone to guard me right about now. It’s the Collective scare factor. It’s like the plague; no one wants to touch me.”

  That’s putting it mildly. The Collective pretty much put a bounty on my head and anyone that worked for me.

  His bright green eyes went blank. “You’re not what I expected.”

  I clucked my tongue with admonishment. “What? Like a strung-out, foaming at the mouth, tapping my veins, begging for a hit, diva?”